Fasting benefits the body in several ways, some of which are outlined
below:

1. Fasting is a period of rest for
some of the organs of our body. It is a period of rest for all the
digesting and associated systems, such as the stomach, the intestines,
the liver, and the gall bladder, overworked by high
consumption and composite food. The digestion system become upset when
more food is introduced as it attempts to digest the existing contents.

Conversely, when one fasts, the digestion
system rests during the period of abstinence, and the light food, which
is later eaten, does not trouble it. Moreover, we find relief from the
food we eat between meals. How wonderful it would be to carry this
discipline over to non-fasting days.

2 Another benefit
of vegetarian foods is that it reduces cholesterol, since it is well
documented that fats and grease found in meat leads to an increase in
the blood cholesterol level. The danger is of course in the formation of
blood clots. As a result, doctors ask their patients to keep away from
food such as meat, eggs, fatty oils and the like in order to keep the
body healthy, especially for those advanced in years. They recommend
vegetable foods in an attempt to revert man to his original vegetarian
nature, to the food of the Garden of Eden.

3. One who fasts gets rid of his obesity and flabbiness:
When a person is overweight, the heart is overworked as it attempts
to send blood to the extra quantity of tissue in the form of excess fat.
This extra quantity of tissue is beyond that which God has required him
to support. In addition, obesity causes many ailments to the body.

Doctors insist that body weight be
reduced to keep it healthy. They impose certain regimes upon an obese
person (which is considered a sickness), to control what he eats instead
of eating uncontrollably.

One who fasts and controls himself is not
in need of a special diets.

Fasting, in the spiritual sense, is far
superior to physical treatment, for it treats the spirit, the body, and
the soul all together.

If a person fasts out of his love for God
for a spiritual gain, his body automatically benefits, which is better
than fasting on doctor's order to reduce body weight, and we have
discussed this issue before here on
st-takla.org in other pages. It is indeed a
tragedy to see people spend a large
part of his life putting on weight,
then spend another part of their life trying to get rid of excess body
fats.

If he or she had been moderate, and had
known from the start the value and benefit of fasting, he would not have
had the need to exert all that effort in gaining weight and later trying
to loose it.

This reminds me of a woman who goes on
eating until her body loses its beautiful symmetry. Then, when doctors
advise her to fast, to reduce her consumption, and follow a strict diet,
she does so, not for God but for the beauty of her body. Thus, she does
not eat, but she does not receive the blessing of fasting, for what she
does is not done out of love for God!

Would it not have been more beneficial
for these people to have fasted both for their bodily health and at the
same time for their spirit to soar high and approach God?

Fast then for God, before you are
compelled to fast for medical reasons without any spiritual benefit to
you.

One of the benefits of
fasting and, in
particular the period of abstinence and hunger, is that:

4. Fasting helps treat many illnesses:

One of the most important books I have
read in this field is the one entitled "Treatment by Fasting" written by
the Russian scientist Alexi Soforin and translated into Arabic in 1930.

This scientist remarks that fasting helps
rid the body of its toxins. Although the body gets rid of many of them
through its various methods of excretion, some remain and may be
excreted through fasting...

The scientist also states that in fasting
the body does not get enough food and begins to dissipate its fats,
grease, diseased and festered tissues, which are excreted by the body.

This scientist also found out that a
long term temperate fast that followed a certain regime could treat many
diseases.

I hereby present his research for study
as a scientist who tested the contents of his book.

Are there any other bodily benefits
through fasting? Yes.

5. Fasting makes the body light and active:

Our fathers, who perfected
fasting, had
light bodies and elevated spirits. They were energetic, having strong
hearts and were able to walk tens of kilometres a day without becoming
tired. They moved in the wilderness like deer, and their minds were not
sluggish but very bright. Thus through fasting they gained strength for their bodies, spirits, and minds. They found comfort and pleasure
in fasting, so much so that their life became a life of fasting.

6. Let nobody therefore deceive you
and say that fasting or vegetable food weakens one's health, for in fact
it gives it strength.

Fasting is not a remedy for the spirit
alone, but it is also for the body. There have never been any cases were
vegetarian food has harmed or weakened anyone.

Daniel and the three young men did not
eat meat at the King's table. It was sufficient to eat beans and their
health was better than the others. (Dan 1: 15).

Our fathers, the ascetics and the great
monks, were very strict in their fasts. Yet we have never heard that
fasting weakened their health. On the contrary, they remained
strong even in their old age.

No-where is it mentioned that our father
Adam became sick or weak from
eating vegetarian food. The same applies to
Eve and to all the fathers
preceding Noah's and the great flood. Therefore, rest assured about your
bodily health.

What tires the body is not fasting but
eating.

Overeating, indigestion, eating between
meals, etc… all leads to bodily exhaustion. Moreover, the body is also
fatigued from the extra heat energy generated by foods consumed beyond
man's need, and we have
discussed this issue before here on
st-takla.org in other pages. How great are the sicknesses brought about
by overeating.

Therefore, you have to liberate
yourselves from the idea that fasting hurts your health.

Nursing mothers incorrectly assume out of their love and concern for the health of their children, that they must be chubby and full. They assume that this
is a sign of good health although an overweight person is weaker in
health than a slim one.

Wrong motherly affection is used to
prevent children from fasting or discouraged. We say that this affection
is erroneous because it did not concern itself with the son's soul as it
did with his body, as if they are only responsible for their sons'
bodies only. In their concern for their children’s bodily health, they
neglect the nourishment of their souls.

Despite this, saintly children used to
fast.

An example of these is given by
Saint
Mark, the hermit on Mount Antonius, who started fasting in his early
childhood and kept on fasting through out his life.

Likewise was Saint Shenouda, the father of hermits, who at the age of
nine, used to give his food away to shepherds and pray standing up while
fasting, till sunset.

To the young and old, fasting bestows health and strength. It freed
their bodies from their extra fat and water.

Many saintly bodies have kept from decay,
all because of God's blessing that preserved them as a reward for their
faithfulness. On the other hand, because their bodies had little in the
way of fat and dampness, the causes of decay.

Meat can be preserved without decay for a
long time if it is exposed to heat which rids it of its water content
and dissolves its fat which dries it up and preserve it. To the some
extent were the bodies of saints who, through fasting were without fat
and excess water. Thus, decay could not touch them.

However, why should we concentrate on the
body? Is fasting a virtue for the body alone?